Friday, 23 August 2013

Ascendancy to Oblivion

“Ascendancy to Oblivion – The Story of the
Anglo-Irish” by Michael McConville. Phoenix Press, London.2001 (1986) pp288.

This review was written on December 8th 2004.

I read this book at the end of August 2004 having borrowed
it from Geoffrey Dean. The contents are based on secondary sources. The author traces
the people arriving in Ireland from the earliest recorded history and describes
the many invasions since the Celts first arrived on our shores.He finds it difficult to define exactly
what we mean by the Anglo-Irish in view of the heterogeneous nature of the
current Irish population, made up as it is of Celts, Vikings, Norman’s,
Anglo-Saxons, Scots, Welsh and a scattering from other European countries.He proposes that the latter-day
definition of the title refers to those who came to Ireland at the time of the
Cromwellian settlement and who dispossessed most of the great pre-Cromwellian
landowners of Elizabethan, Norman and Gaelic stock.

The Cromwellian landowners became the dominant group
in the Protestant Irish Parliament up to the time of the Union. It was they who
continued after the Union to hold their possessions up to the time the Land
Acts were enacted.The word Ascendancy
refers to their occupation and control of much of the land of Ireland while the
word Oblivion in the title refers to their loss of property and privilege
starting with the Land Acts towards the end of the 19th Century,
with further erosion in the early 20th Century leading to their
deteriorating economic, political and social circumstances.

The text underlines the great tragedy of the
Anglo-Irish landowners after the Union.Their gradual separation from their tenants and from the people of
Ireland as they deserted Dublin and the provinces for the wealth, power and
influence of London and Westminster had a baleful effect on their power and
influence in Ireland. And they deserted Ireland often in response to the bribes
of the British authorities at the time of the Union. Later their influence was
further depleted by the 1916 Rebellion, the rhetoric of the Republic and the
disaster of the Civil War.

A relatively few landlords remained in Ireland, and administered
their own properties personally and some showed concern for their tenants. While
not realised at the time, the Union of Great Britain and Ireland established in
1801 spelled the beginning of the end of the Anglo-Irish as defined by Michael
MeConville.

It is clear that the absentee landlords, removed from
their responsibilities in Ireland and their contact with the native population
and culture, had a baleful influence on English policy in Ireland. Many English
politicians, even on the Tory side, such as Wellington, were more sympathetic
to Irish reform than is generally realised but any concern the British might
have felt for reform was discouraged by the Irish nobility living in
London.Pitt had promised early
Catholic emancipation as part of the terms of the Union but legislation was
delayed for another 28 years, partly at least because of the influence of the
Irish nobility. Blame for the famine and the many other disasters which
occurred during the 19th Century is generally levelled at the
British but, with few exceptions, the Anglo-Irish nobility must bear a major
part of the responsibility. They contributed to their own oblivion by
supporting the Union, by leaving their tenants and by deserting to Westminster.

For a reader seeking knowledge of the political,
cultural and social history over the two millennia, Ascendancy to Oblivion
gives a useful account of the major influences which determined the fate of the
landed gentry. Tracing every
immigration to Ireland over the two millennia gives a rounded account of the
polygenetic Irish people. It provides an informative and amusing account of the
governing classes in Ireland during the years they largely governed themselves and
dominated the lives of the great majority of the Irish people, at least up to
the time of the Union.

I have to say that this short review only touches one
aspect of the history of our latter day ascendancy. We still have the remains
of their people and families in Ireland, some of whom have usefully continued
the occupation and welfare of their estates and who have played their part in
the welfare and success of the New Ireland. In particular, some members of the
landed classes paid a crucial part in the Celtic Revival of the late 19th
and early 20th centuries.

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Reasons why...

As a doctor advising patients, I knew that cigarette smoking was the most addictive habit known to Man. At least I thought so until I tried to stop writing. I have written twelve books, and like the smokers, I used to suffer withdrawal effects if I had nothing to write. So, to keep my restlessness at bay, I began to write reviews of all the books I was reading and I found these exercises hugely educational. There are about 130 in all – so far! This blog records some of them , and a few other personal scribbles. Mistakes? There will be many, no doubt, and no doubt they will be mine. This is a very personal contribution to the literature and is in no way an academic text. Enjoy.